Southwestern Oregon Community College Top Questions

"Sixteen-year-old Daniel, right now you probably don't need to worry about knowing exactly what you want to do. You really do have plenty of time to think about it, like everyone else is telling you. Leave worrying about that for me, eighteen-year-old Daniel, instead, because I actually do need to choose a field soon. I know you'll like getting to hang out with people who share your interests. There really are other people who love studying and playing music, who enjoy making jokes about physics, who actually like math, and who take their relationship with God seriously. You definitely have the intelligence and skills to excel here. The teachers are fun to get to know, and are willing to help you do well. They will appreciate your desire to succeed. Your studying strategy could use some work. Your tendency to procrastinate will come back to bite you if you don't resolve it. Speaking of which, turn off the Trail Blazer game and study for tomorrow's quiz! When you get that 3.75 GPA and don't have to pay for tuition like me, you'll be glad you did."

My biggest fear in high school was letting the people around me down. I would go back and say "no" more. I would look myself in the tired, worn, hazel eyes and say, "Please, slow down." College was going to be my one way ticket out of the town I lived in and before I knew it, I was sitting in the musty auditorium in my cap and gown. Feeling exhausted, I took a breathe and looked around at the students I had grown up with. I barely even recognized them. Everyone was changing and scraping their lives together that we all, or at least most of us, forgot to just stop and enjoy what we were doing. High school was incredbile, but college is different. For me, I had to make friends, which was suprisingly difficult when all the friends I had, I'd known since before I could remember. College is fun and enticing, but high school is so important to the way things are for the rest of your life and I wish I would have just slowed down to look around and take a deep breath.

If I could go back in time and give myself advice, I would let myself know that when I get stressed or don't know what to do, just take a deep breath. College has been very stressful for me, and I didnt learn until just recently that I can figure all things out by just taking a step back and then taking a deep breath. I've never been away from my house and family for more than a couple of weeks, so when I reached the dorm and moved in with a handful of strangers, I was going through a huge bought of loneliness. Then, add on the stress of college classes and all the extra tests and studying, I was feeling more stress and anxiety than ever before. That's when I learned the power of just taking a break and breathing. It helps put everything in perspective and then I can just calm down and try and figure out how to handle this newfound work load. It has really helped me out with the home sickness and all the homework.

If I could have given myself advice when I was a senior in high school regarding attending college, I would have pointed out the importance of the network of people you build while going to college. I would also stress the importance of attendance in relationship to obtaining good grades, in addition to the positive benefits of utilization of the tutoring labs. In conclusion, I would also point out the difference in salaries between individuals who have a college degree, from those who do not have a college degree.

I have not started the school year yet, but from what i have experienced over the summer I would tell my self to work even harder on Scholorships, and try to get to know ore people ahead o time so you have a few friends to help along the way.

I would tell myself that college is a lot more work then high school but if you study something that you are passionate about then it feels like a breeze. I would make sure I was studying what I really wanted to study. I would make sure that I was prepared to move out because I lived in the same house my whole life so moving out was quite the transition but it went ok overall. The biggest thing that I would tell my high school self is that college is a much more diverse invironment and you start not really knowing anyone so you need to be open to new people and new friends.

This question is one that is diffacult to answer for the fact that it was all the times I failed which made me the student I am today. I feel as though that life events is what creates and shapes you. If I went back into time and tried to encourage myself I know I wouldnt listen and ignore all of my own banter. It was me going through the college process and figuring it all out on my own is what made it so affective. I always say failure is what leads to success and I have not found one lie in that yet. The only thing I would probably tell myself is that I should apply for scholarships and schools as soon as possible rather then procrastinating like I did.

I would tell myself just to take a deep breathe. Life isn't as scary as it seems your first time out on your own. I would tell myself not to take all the easiest classes my first year in hopes of a smooth transition. It makes the next years almost unbearable to get through. All the hardest classes should be split up not all combined in one stressful year. Most of all I would tell myself that I survived and that i knew i could do it. I just needed a little faith, and a lot of caffine.

If I could go back in time to talk to myself my senior year; I would go back and advise myself to be organized, don?t procrastinate, and fill out scholarships early. I used to be unorganized. In my two years of being in college, I have found the importance of being organized. Another piece of advice I would give myself, would be to not procrastinate. My senior year I was always waiting till the last minute to finish projects, and fill out for scholarships. My projects would get bad grades and I ended up not getting any scholarships.

The advice that I would tell myself would be to spend time researching many different career opportunities. In today's world, there are many high school seniors that do not have the slightest idea about different career paths. I would tell myself to try and figure out my career goals by the end of the school year. That way, I would've had more time researching different colleges instead of spending extra time deciding on a career goal. If I would've had a clearer vision of my career goal as a high school senior, I believe I would be farther along in my schooling than I am right now. So, my message to all college students is to decide on your goals early; that way, you'll have more of a chance to have early success, and you might have opportunites to finish your college schoolwork earlier than you thought possible.